Mr. S. Rayson, Sub-Treasurer, read the following remarks upon the foregoing Balance Sheet : "I am glad to say that the Balance Sheet now presented is more satisfactory than that of 1898, although not yet what could be wished. The receipts are £65 9s. 9d. more than those of the previous year, principally to be accounted for by the splendid profit on the Buxton Congress, which was £75 28. 9d. as against £32 12s. 3d., the amount realised in 1898 at Peterborough. "On the other side a reduction of £24 8s. 5d. has been made in the cost of the Journal as compared with the previous year. Notwithstanding this improvement, the Council had to close the year with a debit balance of £10 17s. 9d. It is to be hoped that by a further exercise of economy in the production of the Journal, and such an accession of new members as will more than compensate for the loss occasioned through deaths and withdrawals, the Council will be able in future to show a good working balance, which is absolutely necessary if the character and excellency of the Journal is to be maintained." Antiquarian Intelligence. The Story Books of Little Gidding: being the religious dialogues recited in the Great Room, 1631-2. From the original MS. of Nicholas Ferrar. With an introduction by E. CRUWYS SHARLAND. (London: Seeley and Co., 6s.)-Miss Cruwys Sharland has done a good work in rescuing these Story Books of Little Gidding from the obscurity of a MS. lodging in the British Museum, where they now repose after many vicissitudes of 250 years, including a voyage to Australia and back. No one who has read "John Inglesant" can fail to be interested in Nicholas Ferrar, and the saintly community which he established at Little Gidding. In an age of abounding worldliness, and in the midst of the troubles preceding the Great Rebellion, he endeavoured to frame his own life and that of those whom he gathered round him on the model of the saints of the Primitive Church. And the most remarkable thing about the attempt was its success. In the introductory sketch, Miss Sharland has given an admirable account of Nicholas Ferrar's life (founded on the lives by Rev. J. C. B. Meyer, and by his brother John and Dr. Jebb), and of the community of Little Gidding. The picture of this family spending their days in acts of devotion and good works recalls the Golden Age. These Story Books were compiled by Nicholas Ferrar for the purpose of weaning his family from the Christmas games and wilder sports of the day, and they prove the immense range and breadth of his reading. They are intended to exemplify various Christian virtues and graces, by instances drawn from the stories of martyrs and saints of the early and mediæval Church. They consist for the most part of dialogues, which were read or recited in turns by the younger members of the family at mealtimes, on the occasions of the great Festivals of the Church; and though they might not suit the taste of our generation, beneath the quaintness of the seventeenth-century style there breathes true devotion and an earnest spirit, which it would do our young people no harm to imbibe. Three beautiful photographs of Nicholas Ferrar, Mrs. Ferrar (his mother), and Mrs. Collet and child, are reproduced from portraits, as well as a view of Little Gidding Church, the Eikon Basilike, bound by Mary Collet, and a facsimile of a page of Nicholas Ferrar's MS. The exquisite work in the binding of the Eikon is specially noticeable. The book is a publication worthy of the subject, and we congratulate the publishers and Miss Sharland alike on the result of their undertaking. Among books of antiquarian interest recently published we have received the following, which we are only able to mention here through want of space, detailed notice being reserved for a future occasion. From Messrs. Archibald Constable and Co., London, The Commune of London, by J. HORACE ROUND, 128. From Messrs. Blackwood and Co., Edinburgh, Prehistoric Scotland, by ROBT. MUNRO, M.D., F.R.S.E., 78. 6d. From Messrs. Geo. Bell and Co., London, A History of Gothic Art in England, by E. S. PRIOR, 31s. 6d. From Elliot Stock, London, The Unpublished Legends of Virgil, by CHAS. GODFREY LELAND, 68. The Parish and Church of Godalming, by SAML. WELMAN, 10s. 6d. Sweet Hampstead and its Associations, by Mrs. CAROLINE A. WHITE, 158. Alfred in the Chroniclers, by the Rev. E. CONYBEARE, 78. 6d. This last is particularly timely and appropriate, in view of the millennary celebration of the reign of the great and good Saxon king, the founder of England's navy and of England's greatness. Mr. Conybeare gives a very readable, and for the most part faithful, picture of Alfred as he is represented in the old Chroniclers, the translation being on the whole sufficiently accurate, though the author, through his confessed want of a thorough acquaintance with Anglo-Saxon, falls into more than one palpable mistake. We can, however, heartily recommend this presentation of a great subject, on which much pains has been spent, to all antiquaries who are content with a popular rather than a rigidly scholarly book. Others must go further afield, or—which is best to the Chroniclers for themselves. Cromwell's Scotch Campaigns, by W. S. DOUGLAS. Cheap ed., 58. This book, which is a wonder of cheapness in its present dress, is an exact reprint of the previous edition, which was fully reviewed in this Journal, vol. iv, New Ser., pp. 295-298. From David Nutt, London, we have received Nos. III-VI inclusive of the extremely interesting series which he is now publishing on Folk-lore, etc., of which Nos. I and II were noticed in this Journal, vol. v, New Ser., pp. 362, 363. The series is entitled "Popular Studies in Mythology, Romance, and Folk-lore, 6d. each. No. 3, Ossian and the Ossianic Literature, by ALFRED NUTT; No. 4, King Arthur and his Knights, by JESSIE H. WESTON; No. 5, The Popular Poetry of the Finns, by CHAS. J. BILLSON, M.A.; No. 6, The Fairy Mythology of Shakespeare, by ALFRED NUTT. No student of antiquity and the realm of "faery" will regret the small sum which the purchase of these little volumes entails, and who buys one will buy all. The publication of The Churches of Norfolk, by T. HUGH BRYANT, with an illustration of each church, is still being continued in the columns of the Norwich Mercury; and, as the churches of each Hundred are completed, they are issued in handsome booklets, price 3s. 6d. each. Mr. Bryant writes carefully and well, and the series, when complete, will form a very fine addition to the ecclesiastical literature of Norfolk. But the undertaking is a very onerous one, and we shall congratulate Mr. Bryant when his task is done. The Hundred of Wayland (the first completed) was noticed in this Journal, vol. iv, New Ser., pp. 299302, and up to the present time four others have been issued: the Hundreds of North Greenhoe, East and West Flegg, Earsham, and North Erpingham. A sixth, containing the Hundred of Gallow, will be issued shortly. Among all the variety of types, including, fortunately, much earlier work, the parish church of the fifteenth century, where not spoilt by injudicious and ignorant restoration, is the most striking characteristic of Norfolk church architecture, and bespeaks the rise and prosperity of the mercantile classes, after the decline of the feudal aristocracy, and the depletion of the monasteries and castles through the Black Death and foreign and domestic wars. We are indebted to the Daily Graphic of May 14th, 1900, for the following paragraph, which records a most interesting discovery; and we have to thank the proprietors of the same enterprising journal for the gift of the accompanying illustration : A Discovery at Blackfriars (from a CORRESPONDENT). By the destruction of some modern buildings adjoining the long-disused burial-ground of St. Anne's, Blackfriars, an architectural fragment of very great interest has been brought to light. This is no less than a portion of the celebrated Dominican monastery which formerly stood there, and gave the name to the neighbourhood. The memories which cling to these ruined walls and broken arches are very im |